Having My Say

One of the great things about being an artist is that even if I can’t change the world I still have an unfettered opportunity to express my opinions. To keep from exploding, I made these pieces instead.

“Whose Second Amendment?”

It is the highest form of white privilege that a white man can walk into a WalMart in all but a few states in this country, openly carrying an arsenal of assault rifles and handguns and be completely unmolested by police. Only a suicidal black man would think he could do the same.

Cotton, nylon and polyester organza on nylon horsehair

(2017)

52” x 84”

$8000

“Remembering Trayvon”

In Florida, armed with a handgun and the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, George Zimmerman stalked and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin for the crime of “walking while black.” Although a jury found Zimmerman not guilty, one wonders what the verdict would have been if the situation had been reversed and Trayvon had stalked and killed an unarmed Zimmerman with a gun. In my opinion Stand Your Ground laws exacerbate the already dangerous mixture of lax gun laws and racial bias.

Nylon and polyester organza on nylon horsehair

(2017)

75” x 25”

$5000

“Feeding Time at the Swamp”

Far from “draining the swamp” the Alligator in Chief has staffed his cabinet and administration with billionaires, Wall Street insiders, alt-right snakes, Russian cohorts and wealthy campaign contributors, all eager to feed off the rest of us.

Silk, cotton fabrics

(2017)

48” x 60”

$8000

“No Vote, No Voice”

In 2014 a conservative majority in the Supreme Court eviscerated the Voting Rights thereby becoming complicit in the active suppression of the votes of minority citizens by state legislatures. Over the past four years—and for the first time since the Jim Crow era—nearly two dozen states have passed new laws making it harder to vote.

Quilt composed of cotton and silk fabrics

(2014)

60” x 36”

$7000

“Hostage”

After the fatal shooting of 20 children and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 it seemed likely that even the NRA would have to rethink its position on the easy possession of assault weapons. Not so. Not even a little bit. Clearly we are all hostages to the “rights” of a vocal few.

Fabric composition of sheer organza and cotton fabrics.

(2015)

68” x 50”

$5000

“Unidentified Black Male”

As bad as Newtown was, the reality is that black children and teens are the primary victims of gun deaths. Of the 5700 children and teens who died from gunfire in 2008 and 2009, 60% were black, eight times the death rate for white children and teens. But, unlike Newton, these deaths are cloaked in anonymity and draw no concern from public or media.